Not all almond growers will experience the stunning success of plunging into social media as Firebaugh grower Joe Del Bosque did back in February 2014, but his journey offers some good tips, which he shared at The Almond Conference session “Growers Tell Their Stories to the Media: Why That Matters!” Curious about Twitter, Del Bosque posted his first tweet, inviting President Obama to visit his farm. “President @BarackObama, I humbly invite you to Del Bosque Farms for a discussion on the effect of the drought on California and its people,” he wrote. A few weeks later, he hosted the president, Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein at his 2,000-acre farm, where he’d been forced to fallow nearly a third of his land because he didn’t have the water to sustain his crops.
Connecting with Consumers
“I had no idea what I was doing with Twitter, but I learned quickly,” said Del Bosque, laughing. “Initially, I got involved to reach out to my customers and make a connection so people would know who their farmer was and where their food came from.” Two panelists accompanying Del Bosque at the Conference session were Kern County grower Jenny Holtermann, who is known by her handle @AlmondGirlJenny, and Stanislaus County grower Daniel Bays. They spoke of their desire to educate consumers about the almond industry, especially in the face of misinformation being shared as California endured a fourth year of drought.
Bays is a third-generation grower whose family was featured in an extensive article in Esquire magazine. Bays said the family purposely chose a magazine that was aimed at a “very different audience, where we can spend more time on complex issues.” The Esquire reporter spent six days with the family and “learned about how we lived and farmed,” Bays noted. “He even took time to help us at our Lions Club barbecue!”
It was a huge time commitment, but one the Bays family was prepared to make in order to tell their story of water use efficiency and sustainable farming practices.
Jenny Holtermann hails from Chico, where her family has farmed almonds and walnuts since the early 1900s. Following marriage to her husband, Tim, they moved to a Kern County farm, where Jenny soon launched her blog, “You Say All-Mend, I Say Am-End.” Her focus is on telling the story of her young farm family, often through the eyes of her son, who just celebrated his first birthday.
Educating Nonfarmers
“I try to educate non-farming people through my blog and postings about what it is like to live on a farm,” Jenny explained. Her lighter style allows her to talk about issues like irrigation efficiency and various farming practices. “I’ve mostly had very positive responses from people who really want to know more about what it is like to grow almonds.”
All three panelists said they were heartened by the response they have had with their various media encounters, and encouraged others to get involved. Del Bosque summed up by saying, “People really want to know not only where their food comes from and from whom, they also want to know how they grow it. Consumers, too, want to make a connection, and it’s up to us to reach out to them because they won’t know how to find us.”
Del Bosque, Bays and Holtermann are Almond Ambassadors, a program of the Almond Board. To learn more about Almond Ambassadors, contact Carissa Sauer.
